How Do You Check How Many People Visit a Website?

The only sure way to know how many people visit a website is if the website owner shares their traffic data from an analytics tool, such as Google Analytics. There are other ways that can be used to get an estimate, but the results can vary considerably.

Website publishers often install analytics software on their site in order to get accurate and detailed information on who has visited it. Here are some methods that can be used to estimate traffic whenever access to analytics software is not possible:

Analytics

The first and best way is if the website owner shares the analytics information directly. This is sometimes available if the website sells advertising space and is trying to attract customers. The analytics will outline the site's traffic data to show its popularity.

Ranking website

There are services that rank websites and give estimates of traffic levels. One of the most well known is Alexa, which works by gathering information from internet users who have the Alexa Toolbar installed. It tracks the websites that these people visit, but as less than one percent of internet users have this toolbar installed, it can give inaccurate results.

Social signals

The final method is to check the social media platforms associated with a website. This will not give traffic information, but by knowing how many follows, views, likes or comments a web page receives on these sites, it is possible to get an understanding of how popular the website is. Social platforms include Facebook, Twitter, the company's blog page, YouTube and others.